How Planting Wildflowers Could Reduce the Need for Pesticides

“Could wildflowers become the new, natural way to reduce pesticides? Find out how farmers have planted tailored strips of wildflowers to attract pest-eating insects as a means of reducing the need for pesticides.

While driving through the fields of Switzerland, you may come across neatly tailored stripes of bright red poppies or radiant blue cornflowers planted amongst the crops in the countryside. Beautiful as they may be, these wildflowers serve as a practical, environmentally-forward approach to agriculture that may hold the answer to reducing pesticides for good.

Swiss farmers, instead of using pesticides, have opted for a more natural way of preventing insects from infecting their crops. Their answer? Wildflowers. Scientists, working with farmers, have discovered a technique that uses tailored sections of wildflowers to attract pest-eating insects, reducing the need to use pesticides to protect crops.

The concept first came about as a result of work undertaken by Swiss researchers, Matthias Albrecht and Matthias Tschumi. Their research comes as a result of a growing public demand and political pressure to reduce pesticide use due to its harmful effects on human health and the environment.”